


When the Man Journeyed on

by Lightswitchclash



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, F/M, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 15:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26520211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lightswitchclash/pseuds/Lightswitchclash
Summary: “You.” She accused him, pointing a finger at his chest.  “You’re finally back.”Link was confused.  He was sure the two of them had left on good terms.  He had no idea what he had done to anger her.  “Princess I-”“Oh, what?  You think you’re going to walk in here and I’m going to shower you with love like I used to after what you did?  I knew you were an asshole but I didn’t know you were that stupid.”“Princess what did I do?”  Link was very confused now.  This didn’t make any sense.  “I’m not sure of what I did wrong, but I’m sure I-”“Oh shut up hero.”
Relationships: Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 72





	When the Man Journeyed on

**Author's Note:**

> This was based of a work, Return to me, by 46hasu, which had a similar concept, but an entirely different tone and motifs. This is the first time I've actually published a fan fiction, but I'm pretty happy with how this turned out.

Wild shook his head and grabbed Zelda’s leg, moving it forward a little more, and adjusting her stance. She was getting much better at archery, a skill she enjoyed before the calamity, but never got the time to practice. 

“You know I shoot better this way. Why should I shoot from a stance that’s going to make me worse?” Zelda pouted. 

It was true, the shots she had taken recently were much closer to the center of the target ever since she switched how she was standing. The problem was she had switched from the proper stance that all of the knights learned and Link himself used, to a rather sloppy one that would slow her down in combat and might hurt her aim if she got used to it. 

Link’s words came slowly and softly, as they always did. “It may be good now, but it will hurt you in the future. You shouldn’t grow attached to it, its bad for you. Now, do it again, but correctly this time.” 

Link realised how close the two of them were standing when Zelda suddenly pulled him into a kiss. It was rather uncharacteristic of her to do so, especially when they were so out in the open, able to be noticed by anyone, but Link didn’t mind. 

“How was that for stance?” Zelda asked him with a mischievous smirk on her face. 

“Hmm, could be better. Looks like you’ll need to practice Princess.” 

Wild, Legend, and Wind walked up upon a little house in Wild’s Hyrule. They were going to visit Wild’s Zelda as it had been a long time since Wild had seen her and he was really looking forward to it. He and the other heroes had been saving the world Wild guessed. And they had just been, well, it didn’t really matter. When they got to the front door, Wild held up a hand to motion to Legend and Wind to wait. 

“You got it buddy. Give you and your princess a moment alone.” Wind said as he and Legend turned around and headed down the hill to meet the villagers. Wild couldn’t remember what the other heroes were doing right now, he supposed it was a bit odd that it was just Wind, Legend, and himself, but again, it didn’t really matter. He was going to get to see Zelda again. 

He knocked on the door, sure she was home. But he didn’t know how. Within seconds, the door was flung open, and Link was face to face with a very angry princess. 

“You.” She accused him, pointing a finger at his chest. “You’re finally back.” 

Link was confused. He was sure the two of them had left on good terms. He had no idea what he had done to anger her. “Princess I-”

“Oh, what? You think you’re going to walk in here and I’m going to shower you with love like I used to after what you did? I knew you were an asshole but I didn’t know you were that stupid.”

“Princess what did I do?” Link was very confused now. This didn’t make any sense. “I’m not sure of what I did wrong, but I’m sure I-”

“Oh shut up hero.” She spat the title like it was an insult. “You really don’t know? Fine, I guess I, the only remotely intelligent one here, will have to spell it out for you. You left me! You left me for months! You said ‘don’t worry, I’ll be back before you know it’ one morning and then you were gone. I didn’t hear from you once. You were dead for all I know.”

“Zelda I-”

“In fact, I hoped you were dead. After a month I knew it was too long. Either something happened to you and you died, or you just didn’t care about me and you had no good reason for not coming back. By the second month I realized that was stupid. You were Hylia’s chosen hero, blessed with more courage and luck than brains, you could never end up dead when the goddess favored you so. Which only left the alternative. You didn’t even care about me.”

“No, that’s not-”

“Of course I knew you never loved me. I figured that out about a week after you left. If you loved me you never would have left me that long. But I thought you still cared as a friend at least.

“It was when the glow on the Master sword faded that I thought you must have figured it out. Even she knew what you had done and you still took 3 months to come back here. Did you just forget about me? And you still try to claim you love me.”

That was true, the sword had grown quiet ever since Link left. He didn’t even notice it before, almost as if it only happened once Zelda said it did. But how would Zelda have known the glow faded? He had the sword the whole time. Maybe Zelda was right, maybe he really was just stupid. “Zelda, they needed me.”

“Oh, they needed you. Did you ever even think about who else needed you? That’s right Link, I did! I needed you as a lover, I needed you as a friend, I needed you as someone who I thought would understand what I went through. You were the only one who understood me. It wasn’t even a week after I sealed Ganon that you left. I couldn’t even walk and you left me to rebuild the entire kingdom all by myself!”

Link’s knees began to buckle and he had to brace himself on the door frame to keep from collapsing. This couldn’t be. He knew she’d be okay on her own for a little while. (But how would he have known that?) And only a week? No, it had to be more than that. 

“No, it… we… archery... “ Link was babbling now, unable to comprehend what he thought was happening. 

“Link, you don’t even understand how much you hurt me.” Her voice was softer now and Link felt his heart break in two. Her anger seemed to be fading away and she was only left with sorrow. “You left me for months when I needed you most. We’re done.”

Done? No, they couldn’t be. They were the Hero and the Princess and Link loved her so much. But maybe she was right. How could Link possibly deserve to be with her if he had hurt her so much? It wasn’t fair to her. “No.” he whispered but his voice was small. 

“Yes. We are. I hoped I would never see you again. I can’t even look at you anymore. Please just go Link.”

Zelda turned away and attempted to close the door so as not to show the tears that almost formed in her eyes, but Link stopped the door with his hand. “No Princess, wait, I’m sorry.”

“Link, you still are my appointed knight, honor bound to follow my every command, are you not?”

Link could only nod through his tears. 

“Then I, Princess Zelda, order you to never allow yourself to be noticed by me again. I don’t even want to know you exist. We’re finished. Do you understand Link? Now I am going to turn around for 5 seconds, and after that I never want to see or hear from you again.”

When Zelda looked back, she didn’t see Link anymore, but she could hear his quiet sobs coming from the roof. He couldn’t even complete her last request.

When Wild rejoined his other two heroes, they noticed his eyes were red, like he was crying. “Wild, what’s wrong?” Legend asked. “Is your Zelda okay?”

Wild’s words came even slower than normal. It helped him not break down in front of his friends. “We’re done. She broke up with me.”

Wind spoke up first. “Wild, I’m so sorry.” Wind didn’t personally have a relationship with anyone, but he saw how Wild’s eyes sparkled whenever he thought about his Zelda. He knew it must have crushed the hero.

“Don’t worry about it man.” Legend said cheerfully. He had never liked romance anyways, always felt like he was being tied down. “More time to do some adventuring with your friends! You’re too good for her anywa-” 

Legend’s speech was stopped by Wild’s fist, which came out of nowhere, and was followed by a swift knee to the stomach. As Legend doubled over in pain, Wild walked away with his hands clenched into tight fists and tears streaming down his face. 

Once he got out of the village he walked up to a tree and drew the Master Sword. Or tried to at least. It wouldn’t come out of its sheath. First Zelda, the love of his life, and now his sword. It was too much for Link. He balled up his fist again and slammed it into the nearest tree with enough force to crack the wood. Again and again he punched it until his hands bled and cracks in the tree were inches deep. It helped a little. The pain in his heart was briefly overridden by the pain of his bones shattering as he hit the tree over and over again. But after a few more blows his hands were so broken he could hit no longer. 

His anger drained, he was left with only his sorrow, and his broken heart. How could he have let this happen. It didn’t matter what Zelda thought, he loved her more than anything and he couldn’t imagine living without her. If it was anyone else that had hurt her so much he would have beaten them within an inch of their life. She was right to banish him. He sat down against the same tree he had beaten and cried. 

Wild sat bolt upright in his bedroll and immediately began sobbing uncontrollably. “Link?” a voice called out beside him. “Link, it's okay, it was just a dream, it's not real.” He felt Zelda’s soft hands begin to stoke his face. “Shh” she whispered, “its okay.”

“Link, I’m here, it's alright, I’m here.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, could you tell it was a dream? I tried to leave in a few hints where things were based off dream logic, like facts bending to include new plot elements, or characters knowing or not knowing things they shouldn't, but I think I may have been a bit too subtle and it may have come off as poor writing. Oh well. 
> 
> And just to clarify the intro part is also part of the dream. The quick shift between scenes is supposed to be dream logic as well, where you just kind of fall into another scene and the previous one is completely forgotten. 
> 
> There was supposed to be a chapter after this one that explored how Link dealt with his dream, but I was having a really hard time writing it and I do think this story end up in a good spot so I think I'm going to scrap that idea. 
> 
> Also I will be very happy if someone can tell me what the title of the chapter is a reference to. Its not super subtle, but I still love why its called that.


End file.
